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March 5, 1999/17 Adar 5759, Vol. 51, No. 23
Some Jewish groups rallying around church-state separation
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Jewish activists are concerned that a number of schools throughout the country, and a handful in Arizona, are bringing religion into public schools.
Some examples of this are detailed in a recently published, 25-page booklet, "Public School Chaplains, Listening Posts and the Con- stitution," written by Marc Stern, co-director of the American Jewish Congress Commission on Law and Social Action.
"We at the American Jewish Congress have long been advocates of separation of church and state," Stern told the Jewish News. "The pamphlet is an effort to (begin) inquiries and discussions about what is going on."
Stern and the booklet note that some schools invite "youth ministers" to visit and meet with students, particularly when tragedy strikes the student population. The pamphlet cites California, Indiana and Ohio as states that have embraced this practice.
Also, some public schools in those states have established "listening post programs" - discussion groups led by clergy at a designated location in a school, where students may gather if they choose to discuss pertinent issues. Suicide was the preferred topic at a listening post in Indiana that came under fire. A group of students from the school who opposed listening posts forced the issue to litigation in 1998 in Doe vs. Metropolitan School District. Before the U.S. Supreme Court could hear the case, the school withdrew the program.
Although such listening posts have yet to crop up in the Valley, there are other instances in which religion has entered public schools locally, said Joel Breshin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona. The ADL receives the majority of its complaints concerning religion in schools during the winter holiday season, but Breshin noted that there are problems in various districts around the state all the time, and "since the ADL can't (respond) to all of them, it's just a matter of trying to pick and choose which fire to put out first." And not every instance of a church and state marriage prompts complaints.
For example, Deacon Phil Simeone from Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Phoenix has also been a personal social worker at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe for 21 years, and he sees no conflict about his two titles. Albeit a religious leader who said he often considers "what Christ would do" when counseling a student, he said he has always been sensitive to students' individual beliefs.
"If I am (counseling) a student who (is not Catholic), I leave religion out of the discussion," he said.
The history of Arizona public schools is not devoid of proselytizing, though. In the fall of 1997, when a school club at Paradise Valley High School that had previously sponsored the school's annual talent show dropped its sponsorship, in order to keep the talent show from folding, a faculty member at the school agreed to have an outside group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, sponsor the show.
"(The show) was very restrictive according to what the ADL heard," said Breshin. "The kind of music that was played had to be religious, Christian music, and there were complaints."
The school district accepted an offer from the ADL to step in and educate school officials about the concept of the separation between church and state.
"This event had already occured when (district officials) found out about it, so we were in a position to try to close the barn door after the horses had left," said Jim Jurs, superintendent of Paradise Valley Unified School District.
Breshin; Marc Lieberman, an attorney and chairman of the ADL Civil Rights Committee; and Sue Stengel, member of the ADL's Western States Council in Los Angeles, conducted a series of meetings with Paradise Valley High School staff.
"(The situation) was brought to our attention in a way that was appropriate," said Jurs. "If we should ever see this (situation) coming again, we would certainly be in a position to prevent that kind of religious event from occurring."
Last year, Aztec Elementary School in Scottsdale experienced an unfortunate tragedy when student Tyler Hackett, 11, drowned in Bartlett Lake on Mother's Day. In that case, said consultant Dan Abbott, clergy people were brought into the school only when students and their families requested it.
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